The Domino Effect
by Pressing Point
Summary: Though a single act of courage, it changed everything.


**The Domino Effect**

**Chapter 1**

She was cornered in the forest, being tormented by bullies. She had tried to run but got kicked down to her knees. She had knelt there on all fours, enduring their taunts and crying her heart out. Maybe it was punishment for being so weak? For being such a disgrace to the name of the Hyuuga? If that was Kami's reasoning, then she deserved to shed every last one of those tears.

She soon realized she had it all wrong, because _he _came to her rescue. Kami didn't want her to suffer; Kami wanted _her _to meet _him_.

Admittedly, the rescue wasn't the cleanest. He may have gotten the bullies to spare her, but he was only able to do that by getting them to target him. After his jutsu-failure, the bullies easily overtook him and beat him to the ground. It wasn't until her caretaker, Ko, had found her that the bullies ran away like cowards. But maybe she was the true coward in that moment. Despite her protests, Ko had dragged her off, only saying the boy was dangerous to provide a reason for his actions. She should have fought harder to help the little blond haired boy that went out of his way to save her. Instead, she shamefully allowed herself to be pulled away.

That's why little six year old Hinata was currently having an epiphany as she sat on the playground's bench, tightly gripping the bento she made specifically for two. At school, it was lunchtime and the eager kids had run out of the classroom to go eat and play in the playground. As usual, Hinata sat with the other outcasts, namely a chubby boy named Choji, a dark pineapple-haired boy named Shikamaru, a kid with a queer love for bugs named Shino and occasionally the boy with a puppy named Kiba sat with them too. They weren't her friends per say, but they didn't seem to mind her presence so she often flocked to them. The rest of the other kids were playing in the field, playing in the sandbox, or distancing themselves from fangirls (truthfully, only one had that particular problem). Well, _almost _all the other kids were doing that.

There was one boy, who was also the source of Hinata's current epiphany, who sat on the lone swing that was shrouded by trees. He didn't have food with him to eat nor did he have company with him to play. Hinata realized that this was routine for the little blond boy called Naruto. He never had any food to eat during lunch and no one would ever play with him, despite his attempts to get them to play with him. She assumed this was because the parents of the other children had also told their kids what Ko told her: stay away from the boy because he's trouble. Hinata took that warning with a grain of salt. There was no way that a troublesome boy would come to the defense of a girl he didn't even know and be _that_ bad.

Hinata gripped the bento box even tighter and continued to stare at the little boy on the swing. This was what? The 10th, 14th, 20th time this month that she failed to muster the courage to share her lunch with the boy who had saved her and properly thank him? Hinata stared at him with determination. This was absolutely the _least_ thing she could ever do for him. He stood up for her and defended her honor and she didn't even get to thank him! She was ashamed of herself. It was time to put her fear of confrontation aside and stop being so weak for once!

Bento in hand and determination set, Hinata got up from the bench and marched her little legs over to where the little boy was swinging. This managed to perk the attention of the three boys she had previously sat with. They looked on at her warily. "Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, soon proceeding to fall asleep.

When Hinata reached her destination, she noticed that she had collected subtle stares from everyone on the playground. Soon her determination began to waver and she could feel her knees wobble with panic. It also didn't help that her person of interest had stopped swinging to look at her with curious big blue eyes. She felt like those eyes were staring into her soul. As she stared back, she could see flickers of hope and longing hiding behind his curiosity. Hinata felt her mouth run dry.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Hinata gripped her bento box tightly and took a deep breath. "You… you," she stammered. She opened her lavender pupil-less eyes slowly and met his blue ones. "…saved me," she finished.

The blond boy stared stared at her, dumbfounded, but quickly regained his composure and grinned. "It was no big deal!" he chirped. "Those guys were bullying ya, right? I had to do something!"

Hinata could feel her face burning as she drew her eyes downwards to stare at her little feet. "A-Ano… i-it was a b-big deal," she murmured. "A-and I didn't e-even th-thank you pr-properly."

He continued to grin heartily and sheepishly scratched his cheek. "Ano, I'm going to be hokage someday yano! Hokages don't need to be thanked! We help people because they deserve it!"

Hinata smiled sweetly and continued to stare at her feet. "I-I think you're g-going to be a-a great ho-hokage," she whispered sincerely.

The boy was struck dumb, again, for a moment. No one had _ever _expressed even the slightest support of his dream before. He was usually met with sneers or flat out laughter. His grin faded and his eyes widened. "You_ really_ think I can become hokage?"

Hinata warily looked upwards to meet his eyes. "A-Ano… yes. Y-you just have to w-work hard a-and s-stay the s-same way y-you are n-now." She smiled shyly and raised her bento box. "Ano… f-future hokage-s-sama… w-would y-you like t-to sh-share m-my lunch w-with m-me? I-I made e-enough f-for us b-both."

The boy eyed the girl carefully. Here someone was, being nice to him, acknowledging his dream, _and _offering to share her food with him? He hopped off the swing and hugged the now red-faced girl. "Wanna be friends?" he asked. "I'm Naruto! And you-?" Naruto's question ended when he realized that the girl he had hugged was limp in his arms. Instantly, Naruto began to worry that he had killed his only friend and frantically tried to wake her up.


End file.
